Reversible latch unit for a unit lock



F. J. RUSSELL ETAL REVERSIBLE LATCH UNIT FOR A UNIT LOCK Filed Oct. 28, 1963 June 21, 1966 F1250 J'- RUSSELL N E R0652 BY $6M MW ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,257,136 REVERSIBLE LATCH UNIT FOR A UNIT LOCK Fred J. Russell, 8635 Otis St., South Gate, Calif., and

Roger J. Nolin, Monterey Park, Calif.;'said Nolin assignor to said Russell Filed Oct. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 319,096 3 Claims. (Cl. 292244) The invention relates to unit locks of a particular kind, namely, one which is customarily inserted inwardly at the edge of the door into a cutout formed especially for it, and which is attached to the door by the frictional effect brought about by connecting escutcheons on opposite sides of the door together by portions of the lock assembly and there drawing them tightly into place.

There is a certain line of locks of a relatively rugged type, with great security potential, which requires a cutout recess extending directly into the door from the swinging edge of the door, thelocks under consideration being such that they must be slid edgewise into position in this cutout. Naturally, therefore, when such a unit type lock has occasion to be removed, it is drawn outwardly from the same recessed cutout into a free position where it can be serviced or where it might be replaced by another reversible lock unit.

In relatively thick doors, namely, doors with which this type of lock might customarily be installed, there needs to be a bevel on the free swinging edge of the door so that as the door is swung into position in the door jamb, the first approaching corner of the door will clear while permitting the second approaching corner of the door to come to rest to a position closing the gap between the door jamb and the door as much as possible. If it were not for the bevel under consideration, there would be a greater clearance between the leading edge of the door and the door jamb upon complete closing of the door, and this would not be desirable.

Inasmuch as the unit lock here under consideration presents a free outside edge which must be flush with the bevel edge of the door, the end face of the lock mustthave.

the same bevel.

. When, however, the bevel end face of the lock assembly has a direction suited to thebevel present on an inwardly swinging door where the hinges are mounted on the right edge, it will not fit an outwardly swinging door with the hinges on the right-hand edge because the bevel of the last mentioned door will be opposite in direction. In prior art devices to accommodate sucha change, locks have had-to be taken apart and'reassernbled or perhaps taken apart and a new end face piece substituted in order to have the bevel in the proper new direction.

. It is therefore among the objects of the invention to provide a new and improved unit type lock having an end face which can be readily reversed with respect to its bevel without making any changes otherwise in the lock device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved unit type lock made up of two parts, namely, an

outer part having an end face with a bevel to match the bevel edge of a door and an inner part in which a retractor mechanism is mounted, the parts being connected with an I easily reversible sliding connection of such type that one part can be reversed with respect to the other and thereby shift the direction of bevel without making any adjustment otherwise wit-h the lock device.

Still another object of the invention is to provide 'a new and improved vertically slidable, reversal type connection between a latch housing and a retractor housing which has a rugged, firm fit when the parts are engaged but which permits the parts to be slid out of engagement with relative ease for reversal purposes and thereafter slid back into engagement with equal ease.

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Still another object of the invention is to provide a new and improved unit type lock which incorporates one housing, including an end face bevelled to match a door edge which is attached in such a way with a retractor housing that even though the interconnection consists of a freely sliding fit, the construction is such that once engaged the parts act as a unit and without undesirable looseness or yielding at the connected portion.

Also among the objetcs of the invention is to provide a new and improved unit type lock, the bevelled end face of which can be easily and quickly reversed without the use of special tools or otherwise disassembling the lock.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of the various parts of the device, whereby the objects contemplated are attained, as herienafter set forth, pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of the lock device in the position it would have when mounted in a door, the dor being shown by phantom lines.

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the lock mechanism in assembled condition as shown by the solid lines, through partially broken away, and showing by broken lines a disengaged position-of one of the parts.

. FIGURE 3 is a top view showing the look mechanism in place in a door shown by broken lines and with the door in closed position.

FIGURE 4 is a view somewhat similar to FIGURE 3 but showing the lock device mounted on a door for swinging in an opposite direction.

FIGURE 5 is a partial elevational view of the outer portion of the lock mechanism in the reversed orientation of FIGURE 4.

In the chosen embodiment of the invention selected for exemplary purposes, there is shown a fragment of a door 10 which it will be presumed is hinged on the right side, as viewed in FIGURE 3, by hinges, not shown. The edge 11 of this door is bevelled in the direction shown in FIGURE 3 and is engageable with a stop 14 On a door ja mb 13. By way of illustration, this will be assumed to be an inwardly swinging door. A strike plate 12 is located on the door j-amb 13.

A lock device is shown as comprising, in the main, a

latch .assembly 16. and a retractor assembly 17. The latch assembly 16 and retractor assembly 17 are in fact separate subassemblies, each complete in-itsel f and provided with means for-interconnecting them so that they work together as a lock device.

- The latch assembly 16 includes a latch housing 18 having ridges 19 and 20 on opposite sides and an end face 21. In this instance, the end face 2 1 is at an oblique angle or, in other words, bevelled in the direction particularly well illustrated in FIGURE 3. The bevel in this direction and of this magnitude is adapted for an inwardly swinging door, as previously described. Extending outwardly through the end face 21 is a latch bolt 22 of substantially conventional design, accompanied by a dead locking bolt 23. At the end 24 of the latch housing 18 a recess 25 is provided, and immediately inside of the outer end of the recess 25 there is a pair of recessed tracks 26 and 27, respectively.

The retractor assembly 17 may be described as comprehending a retractor housing defined on opposite lateral faces by plates 28 and 29, respectively, and an encircling band 30. A hub 31 extends outwardly from the plate 29, and a similar hub 32 extends outwardly from the plate 28. The hubs are for the conventional purpose of rotatably mounting spindles (not shown) upon .which knobs are attached. The band 30 is provided 3 with fingers, one finger 33 being shown in FIGURE 3 in engagement with an aperture 34 in an upper wall 35 of the latch housing 18. An opposite or lower wall 36 of the latch housing 18 is provided with an aperture 37 for reception of the finger 33'. The fingers 36 and 33 are more fully described in my co-pending application Serial No. 319,133, filed October 28, 1963, entitled Releasable Retaining Means for the Reversible Latch Unit of a Unit Lock.

To make part of the sliding engagement between the latch housing 18 and the retractor assembly 17, the plate 28 is formed with a flange 38 forming a shoe having a length suflicient to reach into the track 26, as shown in FIGURE 3. Similarly, on the opposite side, the plate 29 has a flange 39 which extends into the track 27, thereby providing a sliding fit between the retractor assembly 17 and the latch assembly 16.

With the bevel on the end face 21 sloping in the direction shown in FIGURE 3, a corner 40 of the door will clear the strike plate 12 when the door 10 is closed. When the door 10 abuts against the stop 14, a corner 40 of the door 10 will lie close to the strike plate 12, leaving only a minor amount of clearance.

When the lock device is to be mounted upon a door 10 having a bevelled end sloping in the opposite direction so as to cooperate with a door jamb 13 and stop 14', as shown in FIGURE 4, the bevel on the end face of the latch assembly 16 needs to be reversed from that shown in FIGURE 3. In applicants device, it is possible to reverse the orientation of the latch assembly 16 and thus make the same end face 21 take an opposite direction, as shown in FIGURE 4. This is accomplished merely by removing the lock device from the door 10', disengaging one end or another of the band 31) by prying, for example, the finger 33 out of the aperture 34, resulting in freeing the opposite end of the band 30, whereupon the latch housing 18 can be slid free of the retractor assembly 17. This removal of one housing from the other is accomplished merely by sliding the tracks 26 and 27 over the flanges 38 and 39 until the latch housing 18 has been lifted clear of the retractor assembly 17, as suggested by the broken lines 18 in FIGURE 2. All that needs to be done at this point is to invert the latch housing 18 so that it has the position of FIGURE 5, where the inverted position is suggested by the fact that the dead locking bolt 23 now is at the bottom; whereas, in the position of FIGURES 1 and 2 it was at the top.

The tracks 26 and 27 are now slid over the flanges 38 and 39 until opposite edges of the latch housing 18 correspond respectively with opposite edges of the retractor assembly 17. The band 30 is then reapplied, as suggested by FIGURE 4, and the end face 21 of the latch housing 18 now will have the direction of its bevel reversed in comparison with the direction of its bevel in FIGURE 3. Reversal will permit proper swinging of the door, so that a corner 41} clears a strike plate 12 onthe door jamb13, permitting the door to come to rest against the stop 14'.

From the foregoing description it will be clear that the reversal is accomplished by simple sliding motion as the tracks slide over the flanges, or vice versa, to disengage one housing from the other, whereupon reengagement takes place in a similar simple fashion by sliding the tracks and flanges together again in the new position. No'other portions of the lock device need be disturbed, and the lock device in reassembled new position is' immediately ready for reinsertion into an appropriately outwardly swinging door 10.

While the invention has herein been shown and described in what is conceived to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is recognized that departures may be made therefrom within the scope of the invention, which is not to be limited to the details disa closed herein but is to be accorded the full scope of the claims so as to embrace any and all equivalent devices.

Having described the invention, what is claimed as new in support of Letters Patent is:

1. A unit lock of the type adapted to be installed in a cutout recess at the edge of a door having a swinging edge comprising a retractor assembly and a latch bolt assembly, said latch bolt assembly comprising a latch housing having an end face set at an angle transversely to correspond with the swinging edge of the door in a selected direction, said retractor assembly having a dimension in a vertical direction parallel to the plane of the door no greater than the vertical dimension of said latch bolt assembly, a releasable connection between said housings including complementary connecting elements extending in a vertical direction parallel to the plane of said door, said latch housing being slidable out of engagement with said retractor housing to respective positions of disengagement prior to reversal of one of said housings with respect to the other and re-engagement of said housings in inverse position of said latch housing whereby to present said end face in an opposite direction to correspond with the edge on an oppositely swinging door.

2. A unit lock of the type adapted to be installed in a cutout recess at the edge of a door having a bevelled swinging edge comprising a retractor assembly and a latch bolt assembly, said latch bolt assembly comprising a latch housing having an end face set at an angle tilted transversely to correspond with the bevel on the swinging edge of the door in a selected direction, a releasable connection between said housings, said connection comprising means on one of said housings forming a pair of horizontally spaced recessed tracks and having a space therebetween, said tracks extending in planes parallel to the faces of the door and having outwardly open sides facing respective faces of the door, and means on the other of said housings comprising a pair of horizontally spaced shoes extending in directions parallel to the faces of the door, said means being adapted to be mounted in said space with shoes in slidable engagement with respective tracks, said latch housing being slidable out of engagement with said retractor housing to respective positions of disengagement prior to reversal of one of said housings with respect to the other and re-engagement of said housings, whereby to present said end face tilted in an opposite direction to correspond with the bevelled edge on an oppositely swinging door.

3. A unit lock of the type adapted to be installed in a cutout recess at the edge of a door having a bevelled swinging edge comprising a retractor assembly and a latch bolt assembly, said latch bolt assembly comprising a latch housing having an end face set at an angle tilted transversely to correspond with the bevel on the swinging edge ofthe door in, a selected direction, a releasable connection between said housings, said con nect-ion comprising means on one of said housings forming a pair of horizontally spaced vertically extending recessed tracks and having a space therebetween, said tracks being parallel to the faces of said door, and means on the other of said housings comprising a pair of horizontally spaced shoes adapted to be mounted in said space with shoes in slidable engagement with respective tracks, said latch housing being slidable out of engagement with said retractor housing to respective positions of disengagement prior to reversal of one of said housings with respect to the other and re-engagement of said housings, whereby to present said end face tilted in an opposite direction to correspond with the bevelled edge on an oppositely swinging door, and releasable means on one of said housings extending in a direction transverse with respect to said tracks and blockg movement of said shoes in said tracks, said releas- 5 able means being engageable with the other of said housings to hold said housings in engagement.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,845,197 2/1932 Schlage 292337 2,004,510 6/1935 Schlage 70-451 2,676,051 4/ 1954 Hillgren 29235 8 6 2,733,945 2/1956 North 292169 3,006,675 10/1961 Erickson 292-337 3,036,850 5/1962 Schmid 292244 5 PATRICK A. CLIFFORD, Primary Examiner.

ALBERT H. KAMPE, Examiner.

B. R. GAY, Assistant Examiner. 

2. A UNIT LOCK OF THE TYPE ADAPTED TO BE INSTALLED IN A CUTOUT RECESS AT THE EDGE OF A DOOR HAVING A BEVELLED SWINGING EDGE COMPRISING A RETRACTOR ASSEMBLY AND A LATCH BOLT ASSEMBLY, SAID LATCH BOLT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A LATCH HOUSING HAVING AN END FACE SET AT AN ANGLE TILTED TRANSVERSELY TO CORRESPOND WITH THE BEVEL ON THE SWINGING EDGE OF THE DOOR IN A SELECTED DIRECTION, A RELEASABLE CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID HOUSING, SAID CONNECTION COMPRISING MEANS ON ONE OF SAID HOUSING FORMING A PAIR OF HORIZONTALLY SPACED RECESSED TRACKS AND HAVING A SPACE THEREBETWEEN, SAID TRACKS EXTENDING IN PLANES PARALLEL TO THE FACES OF THE DOOR AND HAVING OUTWARDLY OPEN SIDES FACING RESPECTIVE FACES OF THE DOOR, AND MEANS ON THE OTHER OF SAID HOUSING COMPRISING A PAIR OF HORIZONTALLY SPACED SHOES EXTENDING IN DIRECTIONS PARALLEL TO THE FACES OF THE DOOR, SAID MEANS BEING 